Package construction



Oct. 20, 1964 c. H. BEssET'r 3,153,505

PACKAGE CONSTRUCTIN Filed Jan. 28, 1963 United States Patent O "ice 3,153,505 PACKAGE CNSTRUC'HON Clilord H. Bessett, South ii'oiiand, Iii., assigner to Packaging Corporation of America, Evanston, Bil., a corporation of Delaware Filed dan. 28, 1963, Ser. No. 254,144 Claims. (Cl. 22943) This invention relates to a package construction and the method of forming same and more particularly to a tray type package which includes a tray upon which the product to be packaged is placed and a cover which is adapted to overlie the open side of the tray and the product disposed therein.

With the advent of the self-servicing type of merchandising many years ago and its ever increasing popularity and application in the merchandising of widely diversified types of products, the tray pack type of packaging has attained wide spread acceptance in the field.

VVarious tray pack or similar types of packaging have heretofore been proposed; however, these approaches to packaging have been beset with numerous shortcomings. For example, in certain of these prior packages, an eX- cessive amount of material is used and effort expended in forming the desired package. In other instances the resulting appearance of the package is unattractive and does not in any way enhance the sales appeal of the product. In addition, certain prior packages and methods of forming are not capable of accommodating products varying widely in size and/ or shape. In still other instances the Y cover incorporated therein is secured to the tray by mechanical means or an adhesive laminant either of which complicates the packaging procedure and may even in some cases deleteriously affect the product being packaged.

Thus, it is one of the objects of this invention to provide a package which is simple in construction, attractive in appearance, and may be expeditiously formed.

It is a further object of this invention to` provide a package which is capable of accommodating products varying widely in size and shape and permits the packaged product to be readily observed by the potential purchaser of the product.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a tray type of package wherein the cover thereof is firmly mounted on the tray without requiring the use of mechanical means, adhesive, or the like, and yet such cover may be readily removed when desired.

Further and additional objects will appear from the description, accompanying drawings, and appended claims.

In accordance with one embodiment of this invention, a package is provided which comprises a tray having a continuous upwardly extending wall terminating in an outwardly projecting flange. The outer periphery of the flange is provided with a plurality of recessed segments. Overlying the side of the tray delimited by the ilangeis a cover having the marginal portion in taut straddling relation with the liange outerperiphery whereby nominiform stresses occur within the cover marginal portion in the vicinity of the recessed segments effecting an interlocking relation between the cover and the tray flange yso that the cover and tray will remain in assembled relation notwithstanding that the covered tray is subsequently subjected to abusive handling by the customer. Because of the tray flange configuration having recessed segments formed therein, removal of the cover from the tray, when desired, can be readily accomplished by merely tearing off the marginal portion of the cover aiong the tray flange edge serving as a guide. In view of the fact that` no mechanical means, such as staples, or adhesive material are .separating the cover from the tray is encountered once atrasos Patented Get. 20, 1964 the cover marginal portion has been torn as aforedescribed.

For a more complete understanding of this invention reference should be made to the drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the improved package, showing in dotted lines the manner in which the cover is removed from the tray.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view partially in section and showing the manner in which the marginal portion of the cover engages the tray fiange.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective View of a corner of the package showing the tear tab for the cover.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan View of the tray flange.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view on a reduced scale, of a modified form of the improved package and showing the product disposed therein.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

Referring now to the drawing, an improved tray type package 16 is shown which includes a tray 11 and a cover 12 overlying the upper open side of such tray. The tray in the illustrated embodiment may be formed of either backing board, paperboard or molded pulp material. The tray includes a bottom wall 13 on which the article 14 to be packaged is placed. Extending upwardly from the periphery of the bottom wall 15 is a Vcontinuous side wall 15 and, in the illustrated embodiments, such side wall is inclined outwardly a slight amount as shown more clearly in FIG. 2. The inclination of the side wall facilitates nesting of the trays for storage or shipment prior to the covers being applied thereto. In addition such wall inclination aids in forming the package to be described more fully hereinafter.

The upper edge of the flange 15 terminates in an outwardly or transversely extending continuous flange 16, which delimits the open side of the tray. The outer periphery 17 of fiange 16 is provided with a plurality of recessed segments 17a which are separated by projections 17h. The peripheral configuration of the flange may be scalloped, undulated or serrated, and for the purpose of this description and the claims appended hereto, the term serrated is intended to cover a scalloped or undulated peripheral configuration, or any configuration having a plurality of spaced recessed segments. Y

The cover 12, which may be a thin sheet of polyvinyl chloride or other similar thermoplastic polymeric material such as cellulose acetate or cellulose acetate-butyrate, is provided with a central portion 18 and a marginal portion Ztl which overlies and is in taut straddling relation with the flange 16 of the tray. In the illustrated erni bodiment of the package appearing in FIGS. l through 4, the cover is transparent, and the central portion 13 thereof is disposed in spaced substantially parallel relation with respect to the bottom wall 13 of the tray so as to form a hollow chamber. In this form of the package, various types of articles may be disposed within the chamber wherein random intermixing and/ or movement thereof within the chamber does not present a problem.

As aforenoted, the marginal portion 20 of the cover 12 snugly straddles or envelops the flange 16. In FlG. 2, portion 2da of thecover overlies the upper surface of flange 16, portion 2011, which is rounded as seen in FIG. 2, overlies the serrated periphery 17 of the liange, and portion 20c subtends the underside of the ange. A portion Ztidy of the cover marginal portion is provided which partiallyoverlies the upperrouter exposed surface of the tray wall 15.

As seen in FIGS. l and 3, a tab 20e may be formed in the cover marginal portion to facilitate removal of the cover from the tray. If tab 20e is grasped and pulled in E the direction of arrow A, see FIG. 1, the marginal portion 20c will readily separate from portion Z012.

In FIGS. and 6, a slightly modified package 10 is shown wherein the cover 12 thereof, which is of the same plastic mate-rial, as aforenoted, has the center portion 13" thereof deformed so asto conform not only to the configuration of the tray Vflange 16 but also to the interior surface coniiguration of the side wall 15, and bottom wall 13, except for that portion thereof contacted by the product. In addition the cover center portion 18 conforms to the exposed periphery of the product 14 positioned on the tray bottom wall. When the cover central portion 18 of cover 12 has assumed the position as shown more clearly in FiG. 6, the product is effectively held in a lixed position within the tray.

Forming the Package In forming the package shown in FIG. 1, tray 11 with the product positioned thereon is placed upon the perfo* rated base, not shown, of a skin-packaging machine, not shown, of which there are numerous types presently available on the market. Subtending the bottom wall and overlying the lower portion of the side wall of the tray is a jig or form which is formed of an air impervious material. The jig, not shown, is disposed between the tray and the perforated base. A sheet of imperforate plastic material is positioned in spaced registered relation with respect to the open side of the jig supported tray. The sheet is engaged about its periphery by a suitable frame. The entire sheet or at least the marginal portion thereof is heated so as to become deformable. Upon the sheet having received the proper amount of heating it is brought into overlying relation with the open end of the tray so that the limp marginal portion of the sheet drapes over Vhe serrated edge of the tray flange and engages a portion of the perforated base surrounding the jig. A vacuum is then drawn through the perforated supporting base and by reason of the jig only a vacuum is created in the vicinity of the flange whereupon the'sheet marginal portion will be Y,deformed into a snug straddling relation with the tray flange. Upon the sheet being cooled the marginal portion of the sheet will take a set and retain it in straddling position on the tray flange. The excess marginal portion of the sheet is then stripped away so that the package of FIG. 1 is formed. The side wall 15 of the tray 11 shown in FIG. 1 is of suiiicient height that no portion of the packaged product will extend above the side wall.

In forming the package shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the same procedure above described is followed except that the air impervious jig or form is omitted from the underside ofthe tray whereupon the latter rests directly on the perforated base. Thus, upon a vacuum being drawn through the perforated base, the sheet which, in this instance, is heated throughout, will be caused to collapse about the product 14 and snugly adhere to the exposed portion of the bottom wall, side wall and flange. Upon cooling, the sheet will take a set.

In both illustrated forms of the package no mechanical means, such as staples or the like or an adhesive laminant, is required to eect snug retention of the cover on the tray. The snug retention is accomplished by reason of l is in noway deleteriously affected by any such fastening means.

While the trayjn the illustrated embodiment is of a` rectangular configuration, it is to be clearly understood that the invention is not limited thereto and that the configuration of the tray bottom wall, side walls and flange may vary widely from that shown. Furthermore, the cover 12 or 12 is illustrated as being of a transparent plastic material throughout; however, if desired, only the marginal portion of the cover 12 need be of a plastic material suitable for becoming deformable. Furthermore, the cover may be opaque or translucent and vary widely in color.

While several embodiments of this invention are shown above, it will be understood, of course that the invention is not to be limited thereto, since many more modifications may be made, and it is contemplated, therefore, by the appended claims, to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. A package comprising an open top bottom section having a base portion, wall means delimiting said base portion and extending upwardly therefrom, and flange means extending outwardly from the upper edge of said wall means, the outerperiphery of said flange means being provided with a plurality of recessed segments; and a cover section overlying said bottom section open top, said cover section having a deformable marginal portion which snugly straddles and interlockingly engages said flange means and the-recessed segments thereof and conforms to the configuration of said iiange means outer periphery; said cover section marginal portion being possessed of nonuniform stresses in the Vicinity of said flange means recessed segments.

2. A package comprising an open top molded pulp bottom section having a base portion, a continuous upwardly and outwardly extending wall means delimiting said base portion, and continuous llange means extending substantially transversely outwardly from the upper edge of said wall means, the outer periphery of said flange means being provided with a plurality of relatively spaced recessed segments; and a cover section overlying said bottom section open top, said cover section having a tearable marginal portion which snugly straddles and interlockingly engages said ilange means and the recessed segments thereof, lsaid cover section marginal portion conforming to the configuration of said flange means outer periphery whereby non-uniform stresses result in said marginal portion in the vicinity of said recessed segments. Y

3. The package recited in claim 1 wherein said cover section marginal portion is air impervious and said wall and ilange means are pervious to air. l

4. The package recited in claim 1 wherein the outer periphery of said flange means is of serrated configuration throughout.

5. The package recited in claim 2 wherein all of said cover is of an air impervious plastic material and said cover conforms to the upper surface of said base portion, and the interior surface of said wall.

References Cited in the ille of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Harrison et al. lune 4, 1963 

1. A PACKAGE COMPRISING AN OPEN TOP BOTTOM SECTION HAVING A BASE PORTION, WALL MEANS DELIMITING SAID BASE PORTION AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY THEREFROM, AND FLANGE MEANS EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FORM THE UPPER EDGE OF SAID WALL MEANS, THE OUTER PERIPHERY OF SAID FLANGE MEANS BEING PROVIDED WITH A PLURALITY OF RECESSED SEGMENTS; AND A COVER SECTION OVERLYING SAID BOTTOM SECTION OPEN TOP, SAID COVER SECTION HAVING A DEFORMABLE MARGINAL PORTION WHICH SNUGLY STRADDLES AND INTERLOCKING ENGAGES SAID FLANGE MEANS AND THE RECESSED SEGMENTS THEREOF AND CONFORMS TO THE CONFIGURATION OF SAID FLANGE MEANS OUTER PERIPHERY; SAID COVER SECTION MARGINAL PORTION BEING POSSESSED OF NONUNIFORM STRESSES IN THE VICINITY OF SAID FLANGE MEANS RECESSED SEGMENTS. 